Katrina Mission Trip - Slidell Day 3
Greetings from Slidell on Day 3, where today the weather is rainy and cloudy, but our spirits are still high. Our late afternoon tour of Slidell with Donna and Charles and their two younger sons was enlightening, disturbing, yet comforting in a way.
We are here under the auspices of UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). Since October 2005, UMCOR has operated NDRI (North Shore Disaster Recovery Inc.) here in Slidell Louisiana, and has rebuilt to date 130 homes, repaired an additional 95 homes, in addition to meeting many other needs of the residents in the area. More than 12,000 volunteers have been put to work on projects, and there are currently 61 homes in various stages of reconstruction and repair. Volunteers from 80 organizations, 44 states and 8 foreign countries have logged over 515,000 hours of labor through their efforts, all with a staff of 10 including three construction supervisors who manage the home repairs. While certainly not the only organization working to help, their efforts have been remarkable! Despite all the efforts of all these organizations (and the Federal Government) the remaining devastation is far more extensive and overwhelming than we anticipated.
Here are some photos of Donna and Charles, as well as their home and some of the other devastated places we have seen just here in Slidell, including a FEMA trailer park (although many residents have trailers parked right outside the remains of their homes), debris up in a tree, another homeowner and her grandchildren (you will hear more about Rose later), and Ron with a cake given to us by yet another homeowner, Jenny, who we will write about soon. Just click on any of the pictures here, to see the full-size image.
What is astounding, however, is what is unseen. In hundreds of places there is nothing to see, because a wave of water came in, and when it left it took with it entire homes and contents, leaving only a slab behind, which is hardly visible except as an empty place. The twisted wreckage of mobile homes looks to be ancient, rather than just 18 months old, and is unrecognizable. The amount of refuse still visible, and the number of abandoned vehicles still resting where the water deposited them, tells part of the story, but only part! The UMCOR staff expects that they will need continued volunteer support for 10 to 15 YEARS before the area is back to “normal.”
Donna and Charles and their sons stayed with us for dinner and our devotional time, enriching our lives in many ways!
Today we are back at work at our sites, and we expect to complete the work on two if not three of these homes this week, and to start on other projects. We will continue to report on our adventures!